Ujuri speaks softly but carries a big stick

"Masia Ujuri has shown that, when it comes to trade negotiations, he speaks softly but carries a big stick. The Nuggets have pulled the trigger before on deals that never, ever saw the light of day until after they were done"

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With the NBA trade deadline about 48 hours away the rumor mill is churning across the association. It boggles the mind to imagine what kind of negotiations are talking place in the darkness, far from the prying eyes of media prognosticators who claim to have a clue but don’t.

It’s widely believed that your Denver Nuggets have no designs on working a deal that would dramatically affect the complexion of the current team. Most folks think they’ll stand pat. That’s been the assertion of such luminaries as Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports who asserts that a number of teams have approached Denver about acquiring some of their depth players but that the Nuggets have been less than receptive.

The truth is that there could be something massive in the works. Wojnarowski would be no more likely to be informed that you or I would be. Masia Ujuri has shown that, when it comes to trade negotiations, he speaks softly but carries a big stick. The Nuggets have pulled the trigger before on deals that never, ever saw the light of day until after they were done. Nuggets management is quiet and cautious. Nobody knows what they might have cooking.

It can be argued that the Denver Nuggets are better off not changing a thing. Maybe it’s best for them to put off making moves until the off-season when they have a better idea of how the current squad is coming together. But will anybody be surprised if sometime over the next two days a deal is announced? Not if you consider the past. There’s plenty of evidence to suggest that Ujiri is always pursuing deals.

Wilson Chandler wants to leave Denver. He has made no secret of that. Maybe the Nuggets are looking to package him with another player or two to bring in a scorer who can play some late game defense. Iguodala could be being offered, JaVale, too. It’s simply impossible to say. Nobody knows. It’s exciting to speculate as to what the Nuggets might do and it’s no more ridiculous to assume that they will make a trade that is it to assume that they won’t.

There’s no more exciting hot stove than the NBA hot stove. Trade season is a ton of fun. Fans can trust that, if the Nuggets make a deal, that it will be a good one and that if they don’t it will be for good reason.